Traditions

As children, these young women were more valued by their families than daughters in the past generations and they’ve achieved more than women who came before them in their towns. But pressures on them to get married remain strong.

What gets us in trouble is the unexamined belief that various holidays and other special dates are magic time containers of our shared values: Just add water (in the form of perfectly timed and elaborate preparations) and mix.

This season, my father’s gardens filled our home with hard work, nutrition, hopes for the next season and thankfulness. For me now, gratitude comes for the support for our work in journalism, one that grows a harvest of positive change.

Skeptics wrinkle their brows at the Ayatollah’s push for larger families and the government’s efforts to restrict family planning and provide incentives for childbirth. Iran’s youth want to be free, says a scholar of the Iranian women’s movement.

France expresses no concern over cyclists who race naked or sunbathe naked on certain beaches, yet is concerned by women who wish not to show their skin and face? I call that a blatant double standard.

When it comes to twerking, why is the trend now about Miley Cyrus and not the black origins of the dance? With help from Twitter, women of color are talking more about their missing intersections with mainstream media and feminism.

This afterbirth has spiritual and religious significance in different parts of the world, says Y.W. Loke in this excerpt from “Life’s Vital Link.” But perhaps it’s overlooked in Western culture since birth has “become so cold and clinical.”

Feminists have been raising red flags over the discrepancy between men’s and women’s mental health since the 1970s, say Daniel Freeman and Jason Freeman in this excerpt from “The Stressed Sex.” One blames it on misdiagnosis and mistreatment.

In Case You Missed It

It is being hailed as the most progressive state policy so far, going further than New Jersey, California and Rhode Island in various respects. But its showcase potential won’t be tested until the program gets going in 2018.